Gemma Collins Says Her Wedding Was Planned for the Day After Her Mum’s Death

Gemma Collins’ return to Big Brother has brought a deeply personal story into focus: she had planned to marry fiancé Rami Hawash on the Thursday, the day after her mother Joan died.

Speaking with housemates during a garden conversation, Collins described the closeness of their relationship and the shock of losing her mother so near to a day she had expected to celebrate. Joan died aged 70 in July, after months of health problems.

“She was an amazing woman and I had an amazing 45 years with her. I was with her every day,” Collins said. She told the group that grief can be difficult to discuss, even though death is inevitable, and urged them to find the strength to keep going.

Then she explained the timing plainly: “I was meant to get married on the Thursday and my mum passed away on the Wednesday. What can you do?”

Collins followed the painful disclosure with the humour her fans know from her television appearances. The wedding preparations had been rushed, she said, and she had ordered a dress from Shein. “It would not have gone down well,” she joked.

That brief laugh didn’t soften the scale of what the couple had planned: a wedding abruptly overtaken by a family loss. Collins’ latest comments are the first time she has shared how closely her intended wedding date fell to Joan’s death.

A relationship shaped over years

Collins and Hawash have been engaged since 2024, when he proposed for the third time after more than a decade of an on-and-off relationship. They first met in 2011 at the King William pub in Chigwell, Essex, and Hawash later appeared alongside Collins on The Only Way Is Essex.

Their romance began again during the Covid lockdown, after Collins had split from fellow reality star James “Arg” Argent. The couple had spoken about marrying, but the details of the intended date had not been shared publicly until now.

Joan had been unwell in the months before she died. She was hospitalised with pneumonia twice in six months, then spent five weeks receiving treatment ahead of Christmas before being taken back to hospital in June. Collins had previously told followers that worry about her mother’s condition was keeping her awake.

After Joan died in July, Collins described her grief in a public tribute, writing that her heart was “shattered into a million pieces.” She said her mother had died peacefully, surrounded by love, and thanked her for “loving me, guiding me, and being my mum.”

Collins also wrote that Joan had given her strength and memories she would carry for the rest of her life. “The house will never sound the same without you,” she said, recalling her mother’s voice, smile and familiar habits.

A different kind of Big Brother appearance

The garden conversation gives viewers a more vulnerable side of Collins as she returns to the programme a decade after her first stay. She entered Celebrity Big Brother in 2016, when her requests for heated hair rollers and repeated attempts to leave through the fire exit became defining moments of her run.

Her current appearance is different: she is back as a celebrity houseguest, rather than as a competing contestant, following an appearance by her friends Jedward earlier in the civilian series. Collins has long been outspoken about her place in the show’s history, once calling herself its “most iconic housemate” and saying no one could match her performance.

This time, the standout moment comes from a quieter exchange. The story of the wedding date shows how closely a planned milestone and an immense personal loss collided. Collins’ humour remains part of how she tells it, while her words about Joan make clear that the loss continues to shape her life beyond the house.

For viewers, her return now carries that added context: alongside the familiar larger-than-life presence, Collins is speaking openly about the person she says she was with every day. Her account turns a conversation with housemates into a window on the grief she is still learning to live with.